“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 950 (Sunday) – ruts and tradeoffs

Jamaica, October 2017.

On this date in 2017, I was in Jamaica with a group of friends. We arrived on the 21st, and it was the last “proper” vacation in years in that it required packing and being away from home for a full week. There was fine dining and buffets and drinks on the beach brought by waiters and a spa massage.

Vacations in the years since then and now have been closer to labor camp than a tropical all-inclusive resort, and it’s all my own doing, the not making plans or having fun, whether near or far. 

The reasons for not traveling feel valid and depressingly practical and are dominated by finances, Canine Overlord health, and the boarding expenses that are equal to my own vacation cost. It’s part of the ongoing series of boring and practical life tradeoffs, started when I was a wee lass.

Some of the most memorable practical life tradeoffs have included not attending high school plays and events because it would have required taking time off from the part-time, minimum wage job that helped finance my life as a student. There was a week-long archeology dig not done in college, due to finances. There was the photography group trip to Ireland that was skipped in favor of paying first and last month’s rent on an apartment that let me move out and break up with a live-in boyfriend. And so on.

The most carefree and frivolous recent activities have been grocery shopping without a list and the online purchases of several pairs of shoes. Maybe the spring trip to Rome can help bust the rut.